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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26193034">Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skele_girl999/pseuds/Skele_girl999'>Skele_girl999</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Shiftverse [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Character Death, Flowey is a little bastard, Fluff, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, I don't want to spoil too much, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reader Is A Skeleton, Reader-Insert, Skeleton Reader, You are Sans, a little bit, but a loveable one, but not yet, duh - Freeform, lots of death, nor do i want to sit here all night tagging, papyrus is best brother, skeleton!reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:22:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,170</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26193034</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skele_girl999/pseuds/Skele_girl999</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>you wake up as the Sans of a strange timeline. With the combination of both his and your memories, you feel pretty confident that you will be able to handle when the human comes by, right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Shiftverse [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966480</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>133</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            [Restricted Work] by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneiriX/pseuds/OneiriX">OneiriX</a>. Log in to view.
        </li>

    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Your head hurt, a lot. Actually, hurt didn’t quite cut it, <b>agonizing</b>, yeah, that was better. And the more aware you became as you woke the more pains and aches you noticed throughout your body. Every joint pinched, every muscle screamed as if you had run 20 laps around the entire fucking <em>city</em>, your stomach felt like the acids was slowly eating away at you from the inside out, and there was an ache in your chest that spiked every time your heart beat.</p><p> </p><p>You whimpered and curled in on yourself as you felt tears slide down your face. Why did you hurt so much? What had happened? Were you dying? You tried to remember what had happened yesterday to cause this. It was just a normal day, you got up and went to school, goofing off on the group chat with your friends most of the time rather than doing your work like usual, that or writing/reading Undertale fanfics, before going home and relaxing. Doing practically the same thing before eating dinner and going to bed.</p><p> </p><p>Then what? You don’t remember anything else that could have happened, so you just lay there, whimpering and crying as the pain overcame your thoughts entirely. However, as you sat there the pain began to subside, you let out a gasp when it had faded to a dull aching, you hadn’t noticed when you started holding your breath, your eyes blinking open blearily.</p><p> </p><p>You sighed with relief, closing your eyes again, hoping to get in some extra shut eye before your school alarm went off, the soft sound of rattling filling the otherwise silent room… wait, rattling? Your eyes snapped open as you shot up into a sitting position, the comforter falling off your shoulders, before looking around frantically, hoping to find the source of the noise but discovering something much worse, this wasn’t your room.</p><p> </p><p>You began to hyperventilate, the rattling getting louder until it was practically deafening. You reached your hands up to grab your hair but froze when you saw them, you had skeleton hands,<em> you had skeleton hands, <strong>Y O U  H A D  S K E L E T O N  H A N D S</strong>.</em></p><p> </p><p>You stared at them in horror, you wanted to scream but had enough sense to realize that doing that may alert someone of your presence, and therefore situation, and you didn’t want that at all.</p><p> </p><p>“Ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok! Take a step back, breathe, don’t panic anymore than you have, it won't help” You take a second to take a few calming deep breaths, <em>‘in... and out, in... out, in… out, in....out'</em> rinse and repeat for several minutes until you didn’t feel like screaming and crying at the same time.</p><p> </p><p>“Ok, now it’s time for step two, what the fuck???” You wheezed out, before deciding to look down at the rest of your body, you were wearing a long-sleeve soft cotton pyjamas  decorated with stars, white lines connecting them creating the constellations in the night sky. You found it strange that you could immediately recognize several of them despite the fact that you had never bothered researching them, you grew up and lived in a suburb and wouldn’t be able to see most of them anyway, so why bother?</p><p> </p><p>Shaking your head, (no, skull, it was a skull now) you then redirected your attention to the rest of the room. On the wall opposite the bed there was a bookshelf filled with books, you couldn’t read the titles too well in the dark but what you picked up was astronomy, joke books, fiction, general non-fiction and what looked like a few manga's.</p><p> </p><p>Right next to the bed there was a set of drawers, the wood looked dark, though that could just be the lack of light. There wasn’t much on top of them except a lamp and a small stack of books. You leaned over and turned on the lamp, it’s base was a soft blue with a white lamp shade and lit up the room enough to see a bit better, not much but it helped.</p><p> </p><p>There appeared to be a closet built into the same wall the bookshelf was pushed up against. The carpet in the room was a soft cream while the walls were white, a light blue fluffy looking rug sat in the middle of the room. Looking to your left and up you noticed a few shelves on the wall, just above your head, they were covered in all sorts of nick knacks and you had to stand up on the bed to get a better look at it all.</p><p> </p><p>There were small action figures, some you recognized from video games like Link, Waluigi and Wario (they were together because they were sharing a platform), Crash Bandicoot, a few Skylanders, Pokémon and several you don’t recognize from anywhere specific but seemed familiar. There was a broken snow globe of NYC, a few broken statues of random creatures like dragons, fairies, animals etc.</p><p> </p><p>But what really drew your eyes was a framed picture. A family photo depicting four skeletons, three of which you recognized, Sans, Papyrus and Gaster. You quickly, yet carefully, plucked the frame off the shelf, noticing that it had been sitting on top of a photo album and grabbed that too, before sitting down closer to the light in order to see it better.</p><p> </p><p>Sans looked really young in this picture, just a baby bones. He had a giddy look, smile wide and star shaped eye lights as he sat in the lap of a small Papyrus, he looked around nine or ten in this picture, a happy smile on his face as he carefully supported his younger brother with his hands. Standing to his right was Gaster, he looked like he was still in his mid twenties, early thirties at the oldest, and rather than two cracks on his skull he only had one running from his left socket to the corner of his mouth, next to him and behind Papyrus, her hands planted firmly on his shoulders, was the one you didn’t recognize from the game, but you already knew who she was, <em>Sans and Papyrus's mother, Arial.</em></p><p> </p><p>She was rather beautiful. Like Papyrus she had no lights in her sockets, but they were large like Sans’, she had sharp cheekbones that stuck out of her face and small gaps on either side of her teeth, while Papyrus was wearing his scarf with an orange sweater and jeans, Gaster was wearing a black coat over a white button up and cream vest and Sans in a dull blue onesie, she was wearing a black leather jacket over a bright yellow dress, a matching yellow bandana wrapped around her skull with a cute bow at the top.</p><p> </p><p>As you stared at the female skeleton memories that were not your own began to flood your mind, they were of you as a younger Sans, five or six you think, with his mother. But she did not look like this, gone were the bright dress and leather jacket, replaced by hospital gowns and slippers. Gone was the energy you could see in her dark sockets, replaced by bags and forced tired smiles. Gone was the feisty spirit you could see in the way she held herself, replaced by misery and resignation. The only thing you could see that could relate the two was the motherly love you could practically fell radiating from her in the photo, and memories how she would hold you in her hospital bed, reassuring you that everything would be fine and she would come home soon. The soft smiles she would give when you gifted her with crudely made cards and arts and crafts, even drawings and paintings, she had always said that those gifts were the highlights of her day and never wanted you or Papyrus to stop visiting her.</p><p> </p><p>Tears came to your eyes as you remembered the day Gaster tried his best to explain to you why you couldn’t see her anymore. How he would choke up and have to pause mid sentence just to stop himself from breaking down in front of you, how Papyrus hid himself away in his room and refused to come out for anything other than a light snack every now and then.</p><p> </p><p>He only left when you sat outside his room crying and begging for him to come out because Gaster hadn’t come back home from the lab and you were scared that everyone you loved was going to disappear when you weren’t looking.</p><p> </p><p>He looked just as terrified as you felt at the news and wasted no time in scooping you up before full on running to the lab in Hotland, that was the day the accident happened. When the both of you got there Gaster was working on a sensitive machine, <em>The</em> Machine, and it began to destabilize when the both of you entered the room, exploding and taking the scientist with it.</p><p> </p><p>When it exploded it shot void infused magic everywhere, some of it landed in both of Papyruses sockets while only one landed in your left, but it was a larger amount, this is what gave the both of you the ability to remember, as well as your reality bending powers, like Papyruses empath ability and the power to faze through solid objects, and what made you be able to view and understand the universes code, as well as ‘shortcut’.</p><p> </p><p>You remembered how much it hurt to have that amount of concentrated energy lodged into your eye socket, but only for a second. Then how you opened it afterward, your socket stretched incredibly wide when you did, even for your gaping eye sockets. How you had seen a bright blue and yellow flashing light when you did, and more than anything you remembered how the world had been taken over by code, 1’s and 0’s running along the silhouettes of the items in the world around you.</p><p> </p><p>You remember watching the code of your father glitch and fade away, along with The Machine, making you close the eye and extinguish the light, causing the code to go with it. Or how when you turned to Papyrus you saw his one orange socket and one yellow, the green rings that bordered the dark pupils in the centre of the lights he wasn’t supposed to have.</p><p> </p><p>The both of you frantically looking for help with Gaster's disappearance (there was no dust, he had to be alive, that's what Papyrus had said anyway) had landed you with heart-breaking answers from his co-workers like, ‘Gaster? I don’t think I’ve met him, sorry’ ‘doesn't ring a bell, but that’s not important, what are you two doing here? This is authorized personnel only’ ‘are you two boys lost? Where is your mother?’</p><p> </p><p>After a while you got the message and realized that no one remembered your father anymore, that the machine had done <em>something </em>to make them forget.</p><p> </p><p>You blinked back tears as the rest simply became the both of you packing up necessities and a few keepsakes before running away to Snowdin, where you were adopted by the bunny shopkeeper Miss Bun. she had always wanted children like her sister, she just never found a lover, so she was quite happy to take in two orphaned skeletons.</p><p> </p><p>Your skull whipped to the photo album next to you, placing the picture aside carefully you picked it up and began flipping through the pages, each photo resurfaced memories.</p><p> </p><p>Memories of playing in the snow with your brother and cousins. Memories of all the birthdays you had, and the ones you attended, every town wide Gyftmas celebration. Memories of your first day of school, of the friends you made and bullies you faced. Memories of helping your adoptive mother by stacking items on shelves and bringing in new deliveries. The day Papyrus first got a job at Grillby’s. All the trips to the dump that earned you the books and nick knacks placed proudly on the shelves, being read to every night, learning how to annoy your brother with puns to make him feel better when he was sad. When your aunt had her second litter. When the both of you moved into the two story house on the other side of town, promising a teary eyed Miss Bun that you wouldn’t stop visiting.</p><p> </p><p>By the end of the book you had gotten an idea of what had happened, you had somehow gotten transported to this Undertale AU and was put in the body of one of it’s residence. Your name was Comic Sans Serif, your brother was Papyrus Serif, your father was Wingdings Gaster Serif and your mother was Arial Serif. You liked puns and astronomy books, you got along with everyone but didn’t have any particularly close friends aside from Grillby Jr . you adored Grillby’s burgers, your brother was currently twenty three, nine years older than you, and it was your fourteenth birthday today.</p><p> </p><p>You wiped your moist sockets with your pajama sleeve before gently placing the album and picture frame back on the shelf. As you were putting the family photo back where you found it you noticed the cursive writing on the bottom right, just next to where Papyrus was sitting.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t forget....” You read aloud, there was a heart drawn next to it with the same bright pink marker.</p><p> </p><p>You smiled softly at it, fresh tears gathering at the corners of your sockets “don’t worry mom, I won’t” you whispered as you placed a skeleton kiss on the frame, “I promise”</p><hr/><p>After you had discovered what kind of situation you were in you had planned on going back to bed until morning, but you just couldn’t sleep. This whole situation was so effed up, you were Sans Undertale in an AU or timeline where he was younger than Papyrus, was adopted by Miss Bun, and happened to be the same age as you, right down to the damn day!</p><p> </p><p>All the stuff that this timeline did and didn’t have in common with the original kept running through your head.</p><p> </p><p>Papyrus was still positive, liked puzzles and cooking, had a low key passive aggressive nature, and had been a sentry since before you moved out, it’s how he got the money. But he was more serious, elegant, and proper than the original. His style was also different, his casual wear was usually creams mixed with different shades of orange and red, sweaters and jeans. His scarf was also a gradient, one end went do a dark red, while the other faded to white, with the signature bright red taking up most of it. And rather than a costume he had actual steel armour that he wore to work as the captain of the Snowdin sector of the guard every day.</p><p> </p><p>Undyne was still mostly the same personality wise, aside from being a little calmer thanks to her being litteraly <em>twice</em> her age from the game. Her physical appearance was different in that she had a bigger scar over her eye and no eyepatch, her hair was shorter but bigger and spikier than the original, it also had a slight dark to light gradient to it.</p><p> </p><p>Asgore was bigger with curlier horns and was far more graceful and stoic.</p><p> </p><p>Alphys had dark scales decorating her face, running along the spines on her head and down her snout. She was also more likely to show rare confidence and had made a second robot body for a different ghost as both a test subject and lab assistant.</p><p> </p><p>Mettaton had long ago revealed his new body. He had boots that went all the way up his legs and more fashionably messy hair, the shoulder pads were also more rounded and shorter, and the pink chest plate was heart shaped.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone had some kind of extra or different thing going about them, some more than others, and it was driving you crazy!</p><p> </p><p>Because you couldn’t sleep you decided to go to the bathroom you remembered you had for a shower. You were sure your eye sockets were puffy from crying and rubbing them.</p><p> </p><p>Making up your decision you got up, turned your lamp back on and searched through your drawers for some clothes. You were quite confused when you saw some pastel pink near the bottom of the second drawer, everything else had been dark blacks, blues and a few other colors, hoodies, jeans, basketball shorts, everything was so… <em>masculine.</em></p><p> </p><p>It felt wrong though, and not from your time as a human, you may have been female but you didn’t really care what kind of clothes you wore, as long as it was comfortable and didn’t make you look like a dumpster fire you were fine with whatever.</p><p> </p><p>As you searched you found more of these hidden girly clothes, all in pinks, purples, blues and bright yellows. Most were pastel but there were a few other shades here and there too.</p><p> </p><p>Staring down at the assortment of clothing articles you were suddenly hit with a new flood of memories. Playing dress up with your cousins and finding that you liked the bright pink princess dress better than the grey shorts and black and white striped short sleeve shirt. Of sneakily buying makeup from the MTT mart behind your brothers back on a visit to new home. Of looking for and finding cute shirts and skirts in the dump and fixing them up till they looked brand new, but never sharing your findings with your family or friends. Of trying on Miss Bun’s jewelry on the rare and often brief occasions that you were home alone. How you inwardly cringed whenever someone referred to you with male pronouns.</p><p> </p><p>you blinked dumbly a couple of times before realization hit you harder than a freight train, <em>‘oh my stars… Sans was a closet trans!’</em></p><p> </p><p>You giggled slightly as your smile widened, <em>‘Well, I guess todays the day I come out, huh?’</em> You smiled as you picked out a violet crop top with dark purple stripes, puffy pastel blue skirt and leather jacket of the same shade, knee high pastel pink and white striped socks, (You had searched your memory to see if this was as 'scandals' as some fics say it is, and as long as you wear shoes that cover up your feet you should be fine) some multi colored high top converse sneakers and a pink bandana that you were going to tie around your skull the same way Arial had in the photo. What? Your mother had good taste.</p><p> </p><p>Once you finished picking your outfit you gently folded and placed the rest of the clothes back into the drawer, not bothering to hide them like a small fear and doubt filled part of you so desperately wanted. You ignored it as you quietly left your room and made your way over to the bathroom at the end of the hall, being as silent as possible as you passed your brothers door. When you got there you turned on the light and stripped out of your pjs, but before you turned on the water you stopped in front of the mirror above the sink, staring back at you in the reflection was the now very familiar skull of young Sans Serif.</p><p> </p><p>There wasn’t any difference between you and the classic version aside from age. Same large eye sockets, same white eye lights, same round face and, after taking a step back to see it properly, same cartoon skeleton body you had seen described and drawn by fans so many times, thicker bones with more muscle like shape, less detailing making it look less like a human skeleton, you could even see your Soul, the upside down white heart resting safely in your rib cage.</p><p> </p><p>After looking yourself over for a few more seconds you proceeded to take your shower, scrubbing yourself down with the MTT brand bone soap before rinsing yourself off and stepping out to dry off. You were very excited to wear the clothes, though she had collected them, Sans had never gotten the chance to wear the garments before, and in all your life as a human you had never worn anything this cute or bold, so this was a first for both of your lives!</p><p> </p><p>Suppressing a giddy giggle you quickly donned the outfit and left the bathroom. Glancing at the clock you noticed that it was around six, Papyrus wouldn’t be up until six thirty so you had half an hour to figure out how exactly you were going to explain to your brother that he now has a sister.</p><p> </p><p>Heading down stairs you take a second to admire your house, it had the same layout as the one in the game, most of the furniture was even in the same place! But there were differences.</p><p> </p><p>The blue and purple zig zag carpet was instead replaced by stripes of different shades of brown and cream, the walls were a blue so light it would look white to the untrained eye, the bone picture was replaced by several photos of birthdays, holidays and baby pictures, mostly of you, and one family photo with the whole bunny family. The green couch was the same but it was covered by a navy blue blanket and throw pillows colored black, white and cream, the stool with the book at the bottom of the stairs was replaced by a desk covered in neatly stacked reports and documents, the paperwork side of being head of the Snowdin sector of the guard.</p><p> </p><p>Entering the simple black and white tiled kitchen (with the normal sink) you decided that you may as well start on an early breakfast, it’ll help you think and probably calm your nerves. With that in mind you start grabbing out the ingredients for chocolate chip pancakes.</p><p> </p><p>Mixing all the ingredients together as you hummed to yourself you lost track of time and, once you had just finished stacking the second plate, didn’t notice the tall skeleton observing you with calm surprise as he leaned on the door frame.</p><p> </p><p>When you turned around and saw Papyrus there however you practically jumped out of your skin (heh), almost dropping the plates as you did so.</p><p> </p><p>“Papyrus! I didn’t notice you there!” you said nervously as he chuckled out a soft ‘Nyeh heh heh’</p><p> </p><p>“Clearly Not, Bunny” he mused with a grin as he approached and took one of the plates, giving you a kiss on the top of your skull, before heading out to the dining table and taking his usual seat closest to the kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>You took a deep, calming breath, before following suit, grabbing the sprinkles for the pet rock as you went (you never forgot to feed Geode, no matter what classic Sans was like!) before sprinkling a little on the plate it was sat on and taking your usual seat.</p><p> </p><p>It was silent for a while, with Papyrus calmly eating as if this was just any other day and nothing was different, while you were trying to muster up the courage to say something, anything!</p><p> </p><p>You squirmed, sweat dotting your skull and eye lights darting this way and that, shoulders hunched and head down. What had happened to all that bravo from earlier? Why were you so afraid? This was Papyrus for stars sakes! He would support you through all your decisions, no matter what! right?</p><p> </p><p>Before you could delve deeper into your doubtful thoughts, the clinking of cutlery alerted you to the fact that he had finished and gotten up, made his way over to you, and picked you up from your seat.</p><p> </p><p>“Happy Birthday, Sister, And You Look Gorgeous Today By The Way” you could only imagine your face as you felt tears began to prick at the corners of your sockets, even so his gentle smile never left his skull as you let out a watery chuckle.</p><p> </p><p>You wiped your face with your sleeve as you sniffled out a reply, “th-thanks, Papy, but I still gotta put on the makeup, I was hoping you could help me? Y’know, because of all the experience you had with our cousins and such” he gave a nod before placing you on the ground carefully and watched you run off to get the makeup kit stuffed under your bed with a fond smile.</p><p> </p><p>When you got back the both of you moved to the bathroom where you sat down on a stool that was pushed into the corner and he began applying the products.</p><p> </p><p>After a few minutes you looked into the mirror for the finished product, he had forgone the foundation but added a slight blue tint to your cheekbones, a blush, you realized, and a pastel pink eyeshadow with wings that had navy outlining, in other words you looked <em>phenomenal</em> and you just stared awestruck as your brother puffed up his chest in pride at his handiwork.</p><p> </p><p>You wasted no time in spinning around and trapping him in a tight hug, resting your chin on his abdomen in order to keep your makeup from smearing.</p><p> </p><p>“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” you squealed in delight, positively beaming up at him, “Anytime, Dear Sister” he replied as he once again scooped you up, this time bridle style, you squealed once again and kicked your legs frantically, he had called you sister! Again!</p><p> </p><p>After the initial excitement wore off you had returned downstairs to watch T.V. while you waited for Papyrus to get ready to head out. You would normally be getting ready for school, hell you’d be leaving! But it was tradition that on one of your birthdays you would both have the day off and go to Grillby’s for takeout before traveling to New Home to go on a shopping spree.</p><p> </p><p>However Papyrus couldn’t take the day off this time because Dogaressa and Dogamy were both sick and Undyne couldn’t afford to let anyone else go. But you didn’t mind, you would just have to eat while Papy did his shift then take the ferry to cut back some time, no biggie.</p><p> </p><p>Once your brother came out in his armor you hopped off the couch, turning off the Morning Mettaton Quiz show that was playing before taking his right hand as you both left the house, a smile on your face. Despite the uncertainty and worry about appearing in this world, you vowed to enjoy it, no matter what.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Game Start.....</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>let the game begin...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a few days since you woke up here, when you entered Grillby’s and someone asked about the new look amongst the ‘happy birthdays’ your brother had wasted no time in lifting you up and placing you on his shoulder before loudly asking for a burger and fries to go for ‘The Birthday Girl!’ causing your whole skull to explode in a bright blue flush at the congratulations from the usual patrons, Grillby even gave you a discount! <strike>apparently everyone had already known and were just waiting for you to come out, nice to know Sans had been <em> that </em> obvious.</strike></p><p> </p><p>To say the rest of town found out quickly was an understatement. Snowdin was the kind of town where everyone knew everyone, so if something happened it would only be a matter of time before the whole town found out, of course you made sure to tell Miss Bun and the rest of the family before anyone else, wouldn’t do well for your adoptive family to find out about something like this from anyone but you, now would it?</p><p> </p><p>On the shopping trip you had gone on a spree, getting as many skirts, dresses, cute shirts and jackets, sweaters, hoodies, leggings, tight jeans, shorts and other things in as many shades of pink, blue, purple and yellow as you could. By the end you had a whole new wardrobe the colour of the rainbow! Though you felt a little guilty about spending so much you pushed it aside, this was the only time of year you actually bought non-necessities, anytime you wanted something for yourself you would just go to the dump and hope there was something there. you weren't poor by any means, a guard captain had quite the salary after all, but you and Papyrus were just very careful with your money as a way to ensure that you <em>stayed</em> on the wealthier side of things.</p><p> </p><p>Afterwards you and Papyrus sorted through your old wardrobe and got rid of anything you didn’t actually like, though you kept a few things most of it was either sold or given to your younger cousins. In short things had been going great, but despite it all there was still one thing that bugged you, a question that wouldn’t go away, <em> when was the human going to arrive? </em></p><p> </p><p>This question scared you for several reasons, would they be Frisk or someone else? will they have RESET capabilities? If so then what kind of run will they do? Will you have to meet them in the judgement hall? <b>Will they kill Papyrus?</b> All of these possibilities and concerns running through your head had you more often than not spacing out during class and losing sleep. It didn't take long for the behaviour and the emotions you were emitting to catch Papyrus’s attention as the week went by with no answers and your stress grew.</p><p> </p><p>So here you were, squirming under his gaze as you both sat at the table. To anyone else he may have looked calm, uncaring even, but you knew better, he wanted answers, and quick. You gulped.</p><p> </p><p>“look, Papyrus, it’s nothing, really! I just- I’ve had a lot on my mind lately is all, nothing to worry about…” you trailed off as he gave you a doubtful look, causing you to shrink into your purple, white-striped turtleneck sweater and avert your gaze.</p><p> </p><p>You sighed, “I just, I’m worried is all, about if a human comes here. They’re so much stronger than us and you’re one of the first people who would face them, Snowdin is the first <em> place </em> they would come too when they leave the Ruins and I’m worried that they may- they could-” you were cut off by Papyrus wrapping you in a warm and comforting embrace.</p><p> </p><p>“I Understand, Bunny, I Am Also Worried About The Power A Human Who Falls Down Here Could Possess, That Is Why I Joined The Guard In The First Place, To Protect The Family We Have Made Here, To Protect <em> You </em>” You had begun crying as he spoke, silent tears slipping down your face.</p><p> </p><p>He was right, of course he was, he was always right, but you also knew better, there was only so much one could do against a genocidal human with time powers, or a flower for that matter.... </p><p> </p><p>Yeah, Flowey existed here, though he hadn’t made an appearance since you woke up here you were supplied by memories of his own RESETs. You and your brother being the only ones to remember, however, gave you the ability to use your combined power to…. ‘Persuade’ him to stop. Now he simply manipulated people into giving up the info he wanted in order to sate his curiosity, not exactly great but better than repeated homicide at least.</p><p> </p><p>He did look a little different from classic, much like everyone else here. His pedals weren’t a plain golden, they had faint white spots dotting them, similar to freckles, there were tiny red thorns at the base of his stem and he had bright pink rosy cheeks, just like Chara’s.</p><p> </p><p>You did worry about how him not RESETing anymore meant the day the last human falls is fast approaching, but shook the thought away. You did <em> not </em> feel like facing that, nor even considering talking to the weed more than necessary.</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks Papy, I just worry” you say as you reluctantly pull away from the hug, “it’s just, if all the weed needed to do what he did was only a bit of Determination, then what could a <em> human </em>achieve?” he looked at you solemnly with a nod of understanding, before giving a smile and a wink.</p><p> </p><p>“If That Happens Then We’ll Just Have To Handle It The Same Way We Handled Him, Won’t We Bunny?” you smiled and nodded, that certainly did sound like a good plan, maybe with <em> two </em> judges instead of one they will give up on any Genocide runs? It was slim but still a possibility.</p><p> </p><p>Guess you’ll have to wait and see, huh?</p><hr/><p>After that Papyrus agreed to pull you out of school to help him keep watch for any overly Determined humans, this is when you met Toriel while practicing knock knock jokes on the Ruins door. A month later is when you made the promise to protect any human who comes by and just a day after that is when you had arrived only to find a pile of dust sitting in the open entryway of the Ruins, small footprints leading through Snowdin Forest.</p><p> </p><p>“So it’s gonna be like that huh? Well, two can play at that game, <b> <em>kiddo</em> </b> ” you growled out as you turned around to stalk the child, it was appropriate that it would be <em> this </em> day that you decided to wear your old blue hoodie, dark purple turtleneck sweater, shorts, pink and white striped socks, and blue tennis shoes, you looked more like a Sans today than you ever had.</p><p> </p><p>You stalked the child. It was easy to catch up as they weren’t that far ahead of you, until they reached the bridge, or where it was supposed to be anyway. The reason you had been the one stationed at the door was because your shortcuts made it so you could cross the gaping chasm safely, it was too wide to jump and there weren’t any planks long enough to place over it, so everyone else would either have to pay that bird to come all the way from Waterfall and carry them over or go around, both of which took about an hour or so, there was no bridge because it made it easier to trap a human, or at least slow one down.</p><p> </p><p>As they stood there you casually walked up to them until you were standing right behind them, then spewed the classic, ‘turn around and shake my hand’ speech. Which they did, and were unpleasantly surprised at the painful joy buzzer you had placed on your hand, the high voltage shock making them yelp.</p><p> </p><p>“heh, old joy buzzer in the hand trick, always funny” You laughed a little coldly.</p><p> </p><p>They didn’t react, just stared, their squinted eyes dull and their clothes dusty. They had equipped the faded ribbon and toy knife, both of which were also covered in dust, the sight was sickening and it took everything in you not to push them into the chasm below, you still technically needed their Soul, even if it was tainted by LV.</p><p> </p><p>“What’s the matter? Not very humerus?” you asked, faked lazy attitude seeping into your voice.</p><p> </p><p>When they still didn’t answer you just huffed and muttered a ‘tough crowd’ before directing them down the path that would lead them across the chasm, of course you directed them down the long and dangerous path, but they didn’t need to know there was an easier way.</p><p> </p><p>After they were out of sight, you shortcut to where you knew Papyrus would be, which was checking up on the Dog Guard. You briefed him on your findings as soon as you found him, “Hmmm, That Is A Problem” he hummed, though he seemed nonchalant about it you knew your big brother better than that, this was really worrying him.</p><p> </p><p>After a moment he turned to the guard and ordered everyone to get to their posts asap, and if they found the human to “Show No Mercy” they all barked an affirmative before running off.</p><p> </p><p>After they were gone he then turned to you, “Sister, I Want You To Keep An Eye Socket On Them And Report Your Findings To Me, Got That? Everything, I Don’t Want The Human To Even BREATHE Funny Without Me Knowing” he ordered firmly, you saluted with an ‘understood sir’ before immediately shortcutting away to track them down again. This was going to be a long day…</p><hr/><p>You had been tracking their every move, recording everything and sending the info to Papyrus, just as you were ordered. So far they had killed every monster they came across, including the Dog Guard, by the time they made it to the last bridge before Snowdin Town there wasn’t a single living resident on the snowy forest, only dust on the wind.</p><p> </p><p>The whole town had already been evacuated, reports sent to Undyne to put the rest of the underground on high alert and warn the king, they didn’t even stop to explore the town, they just wandered into the shop to steal as many healing items as their inventory could fit, before quickly walking to the fog filled clearing just before the entrance to Waterfall, there, standing tall and proud, was Papyrus. </p><p> </p><p>He already knew about the humans ability, the both of you had recognized the feeling of the LOADs every time they died, either at the hands of a monster or the puzzles and traps, and therefore knew what had to be done. You didn’t stick around for the fight, you had a job to do and damn it all if you weren’t going to fulfil your brothers request!</p><p> </p><p>So, you sat and waited in the Judgement Hall, waited for the human to appear, it took an entire day (three if you counted all the LOADs), but you held your position until they finally made it. If you thought they were covered in dust earlier than they were absolutely <em> caked </em> in it now, you couldn’t even tell what colour their sweater was anymore. They now had Chara’s knife held tightly in their right hand, the one you can only get during a full Genocide run, their previously squinted eyes were wide open, blood red orbs met your own as they stood there. One CHECK told you all you needed to know, not bothering to even speak you immediately summoned five blasters and fired, there was a pained cry that could only just be made out over the roar of the lasers as they were evaporated, there was nothing left behind accept a scorch mark.</p><p> </p><p>At least for a bit, but after closing your eyes for only a second you suddenly opened them at the sound of rapid footsteps and just barely dodged their knife, it tore through your sweater however, glaring at the damage, you sent a wave of bones and two more of the dragon skulls to swiftly take them out.</p><p> </p><p>Only to blink and see them standing at the end of the hallway once again, a look filled with sick Determination plastered on their face, this was going to take a while.</p><hr/><p>306… it took 306 LOADs for them to finally land that one killing hit. You placed your hand over the excessively bleeding wound across your chest as you walked away, uttering the first words you had spoken since you accepted your last order from Papyrus, “well…. if that’s it... guess I’m off.. to.. Grillby’s… one last time…. hey Paps, you *cough* want anything?”</p><p> </p><p>You had only just made it to the entrance of the Judgment Hall before you collapsed, the world slowly fading away as you felt your body dusting, barely even registering the rosy cheeked buttercup as it gave your disintegrating form a panicked look.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Formulating A Plan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You make a plan. It seems like it will work out, right?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You gasped as your alarm awoke you that morning. The phantom pains creating a stinging itch across your ribcage as you sat up, placing your hand over where the wound was. You threw a sharpened bone at the screeching device, your brother had bought it for you to help you get up on time for his shifts when you had decided to join him, but now it only served to grate on your nerves.</p><p> </p><p>You sat there, heaving desperate breaths for the oxygen you no longer needed as the sound of your bones rattling filled the air. After a few minutes you, reluctantly, pulled the collar of your shirt away so that you could see your rib cage. There, running from the right shoulder down to the bottom left of your ribcage was a thin, barely visible line, you cursed softly, the worst of the wounds always carried on through the RESETs, without fail, even if only barely.</p><p> </p><p>It was a few moments later that Papyrus entered the room solemnly. Cringing at the sight of the destroyed alarm before he slowly made his way over and sat next to you on the bed, bringing you into a gentle embrace. If you listened carefully you could hear his bones rattling along with yours. No matter how often it had happened, dying had always bothered your brother more than anything, it was the one thing that could make him break his calm demeanour, to show obvious distress.</p><p> </p><p>You quietly wrapped your arms around his torso and shifted over so that you were sitting in his lap. The both of you had sat there embracing each other for several minutes before Papyrus’s phone ringing brought the both of you out of it, Papyrus used his blue magic to bring the device over and answer, all without letting you go. It was Undyne, she had gotten a report from one of the dogs that neither of you had arrived yet and seemed genuinely worried about you two, Papyrus made up a story about you having a cold and getting distracted, requesting that he have the day off to take care of you, she agreed and he hung up. Another few moments passed before any of you spoke.</p><p> </p><p>“y’know, one of these days she's gonna actually pick up a damn book and learn that we've been bullshitting her with that excuse for years…” you mumbled into his shirt, causing him to chuckle with a ‘language’ that had no real life behind it.</p><p> </p><p>He then heaved a giant sigh before moving you off of his lap and standing, “well, we have much to discuss, now that we know what’s going on and how today is going to play out we need to go to the basement and formulate a plan of some kind” He said softly, his usual capitalization absent from his speech.</p><p> </p><p>You nodded before standing and following Papyrus out your bedroom door. The basement was special because it was unaffected by the RESETs, meaning you could write down plans and record data without it all being erased the next time you needed it. There were even times you would go in one day, then come out a few hours later only to find that the timeline had RESET and you were a week early to the party no one had been invited to yet.</p><p> </p><p>You and Papyrus theorized that it had something to do with The Machine kept there. Yes <em> that </em> machine. You two honestly have no idea how it got there, when the lab exploded there wasn’t anything left of the thing, and the day you had officially moved into your new home you had gone down to the basement only to find the subject of half your trauma just… <em> sitting </em> there, undamaged and dusty, as if it had been there the whole time and not out erasing fathers.</p><p> </p><p>The whole thing had freaked you both out so much that you locked the basement and pretended it wasn’t there for literal years. That was until Flowey started messing with time all willy nilly, killing who he wanted out of curiosity and a desperate attempt to unlock everyone’s secrets. You and Papyrus had tried to see if The Machine could track that kind of stuff because of how much your father would ramble on about timelines and such, that was when you had discovered the timelines jumping around, stopping and starting, before ending entirely. Neither of you know if it has anything to do with RESETs or if it's some natural end of days that cannot be prevented, but it still scared you a bit.</p><p> </p><p>The discovery of the rooms immunity to time powers was actually an accident, you had made an idle doodle one day and decided to put it there for no apparent reason. Then when the timeline had RESET to a month prior you had gone back down to put a box of stuff that was cluttering up your room down there only to find the same doodle, in the same place.</p><p> </p><p>After that incident you and Papyrus began testing it out and the rest is history (although technically most of it didn’t happen). Now however you needed to formulate a plan on how to deal with the human, you both already knew that if this human could RESET then they were more Determined than Flowey, meaning this will be a much harder fight. They also seemed bent on causing pain and suffering for no reason other than they felt like it, so they were ruthless and bloodthirsty, and finally, they were stronger than any monster alone, but you didn't know how well they’d fair against multiple at once, would they cower and give up like Flowey? Or continue on for the sake of their own desires? These were questions that could only be answered with trial and error.</p><p> </p><p>You both spent more time writing down as much data as you could, what kind of strength did they possess? How fast were they? How many LOADs did it take to learn to dodge each of your attacks, did any of you reveal all of your abilities etc etc. You had taken pictures and videos of them too, before you disappeared to the Judgment Hall you had put the phone you took them with in the basement for later, now you were printing out the photos and downloading all the videos onto a USB that you put in a labelled zip lock bag. </p><p> </p><p>After you had finished getting down everything you could about them, the both of you sorted it all into a folder and placed it into the filing cabinet. It was just as you were about to leave that a certain weed popped up between the tiles of the floor, his usual Soulless smile replaced with a grimace as his beady eyes darted around nervously.</p><p> </p><p>You narrowed your sockets at the buttercup as Papyrus stared blankly. This wouldn’t be the first time he had gotten into the basement, but when he found out the LOADs and RESETs didn’t work there he began to avoid it like the plague.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you want?” You spat, you didn’t feel up to dealing with the weed and you were in desperate need of a punching bag to let your frustrations out on right about now.</p><p> </p><p>Flowey looked up at the both of you with an expression that you had only seen on him once, one he wore as he was trapped under your brothers boot and on the business end of a sharpened bone, <em> fear.</em></p><p> </p><p>“Look, I know how you feel, I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here, but I need your help” You narrowed your sockets at him in distrust, but one glance at your brother’s interest had you sighing, “Continue” You grit out in frustration.</p><p> </p><p>He swallowed thickly, “In the last run, I had watched the human from the very beginning, hell, I was the first monster they met!” you scoffed at his exclamation.</p><p> </p><p>You honestly didn’t know who to feel sorry for, the brat or the weed, “And while I did I noticed something… off… about them, and not in the usual ‘murder-y’ way either, it was more of a… ‘puppet on strings’ kind of way. I think someone may be controlling them somehow…”</p><p> </p><p>Papyrus mulled over the information as you stared, <em> ‘of course they were being controlled, that’s generally how it goes. Frisk is nothing more than a meat puppet to either Chara, the Player, or a bit of both, usually both’ </em> although this timeline was most definitely <em> not </em> a fan game, at least not one you had ever heard of, there was still most definitely some other bitch behind a screen pulling the strings of this god forsaken story.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, That Is An Interesting Theory, But Do You Have Any Proof?” You’re brought back from your attack on the fourth wall by your brother's question, right, you had work to do.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, not yet, but that’s why I came to you two, for whatever reason you two have abilities that can bend time and space itself! So I figured that if anyone could get answers, it would be you, right? And besides, I want them stopped as much as anyone else”</p><p> </p><p>You looked up at Papyrus’s contemplative look, he looked to you with a questioning gaze, you sighed but nodded. As much as you hated him, Flowey was right, you and Papyrus could do things no one else could, <em> remember </em> things no one else could. Combined with the buttercups first-hand experience with RESETs would give you all a better chance of stopping this before it even begun, “Alright Then Flowey, We Agree To Assist You In Discovering The Motive Behind The Humans Actions In An Attempt To Put An End To What Will No Doubt Be A Gruesome Loop, Before It Has Time To Take Form”</p><p> </p><p>He sighed in relief and seemed to deflate, “But! If you try anything funny I will not hesitate to bring out the weed killer, got it?” You snapped, he quickly nodded his head in agreement.</p><p> </p><p>The three of you worked on putting together more data based on Flowey’s observations, Undyne gaining enough Determination to cheat death for a time surprised only Flowey, you already knew how the timeline would go because of your second life and Papyrus knew Undyne better than anyone, he would have been more surprised if she just gave up.</p><p> </p><p>While sorting through and going over all the info you were suddenly struck with the idea to go and find all the humans armour and weapons and hide them in the basement before they had the chance to get a hold of them. It may not do much in the long run, but without those boosts they would find the fights harder and may be encouraged to give up, best of all you would only have to do it once as any item placed in the basement didn’t go back or get replaced in the next RESET, you had tested it.</p><p> </p><p>After explaining this to them, Papyrus and Flowey agreed, of course you would have to steal the items they would already have from the ruins, and this won’t make them unable to fight entirely, but anything that would slow them down even a bit would help.</p><p> </p><p>After that you all started working out little things you could do to inconvenience them and give yourselves an advantage, if you made enough stuff then it would build up and perhaps convince them to give up, <em> ‘hey, maybe if we’re lucky they won’t leave the ruins at all’ </em> you mused. Yeah no, that was wishful thinking…</p><hr/><p>It was a cold day in Snowdin Forest, the dust blowing in your face from the open Ruins door made your face scrunch up, but you simply turned away to follow the beast responsible until the both of you reached the crack in the earth that separated the Ruins door from the only direct path onward.</p><p> </p><p>When they turned around they seemed surprised to see you, eyes widening a smidge and brows raising. You remembered that you had not appeared last timeline, the inconsistency must be confusing them, the thought made you crack a lopsided smile.</p><p> </p><p>“C’mon, don’t you know how to greet a new pal?” You asked with a smile.</p><p> </p><p>They glanced at the offered hand, most likely expecting another joy buzzer, not seeing anything they grabbed your hand to shake, but were surprised when you caught them in blue magic and held them completely stone still.</p><p> </p><p>They looked at you with wide dark eyes as you reached up and plucked the ribbon out of their hair and snatched the knife out of their hand, “Now now, you know it’s not very fair for the stronger opponent to have the advantage, right?” They growled as they struggled in your grip. You just chuckled before shortcutting onto the branch of a nearby tree, just to see their reaction, and you were quite pleased at the enraged scream they let out. You quickly shortcut to the basement where Papyrus and Flowey had just finished retrieving the last of the items.</p><p> </p><p>“How did it go?” The flower asked and the both of them sighed in relief when you held up the fruits of your labour with a smile, “Better than I could have hoped”</p><p> </p><p>It was then that you really got to work, you made sure to alert everyone of the situation and had the town and most of the forest evacuated while the human was busy with an interchanging high voltage electric maze. Papyrus had originally denied the design because he believed that it would be too cruel, but considering the situation he decided to bring it out, just this once.</p><p> </p><p>That wasn’t the only puzzle like it either, all of them were horrifically difficult and extremely dangerous, to the point where some were literally impossible to figure out unless you were the one who built it. The reason all these puzzles were set up so quickly was because they were actually left over from when you had used them on Flowey, you took sick joy at seeing him shiver in fear when some of the more painful ones were activated.</p><p> </p><p>You made sure to set them up behind the citizens as they evacuated, activating the ones already there while you were at it. Flowey was in charge of keeping tabs on the human and sending reports to the both of you via a spare phone you lent him, and Papyrus was in charge of briefing the other sectors guard captains and king on the situation and figuring out a plan of attack.</p><p> </p><p>This slowed them down <em> significantly </em>, you would find yourself full on wheezing in laughter when Flowey would send you pictures or videos of the human getting stuck in the numerous puzzles, and the annoyance on their face when they would search for any sign of life for them to take only to see nothing, it was priceless!</p><p> </p><p>It took an entire day but eventually you had finished preparing the puzzles, everyone was evacuated to the true lab, and the royal guard was prepared for the worst. There was <em> no way  </em>that anyone, even Frisk, would be ‘Determined’ enough to get through all <em> this,</em> victory was as good as yours.</p><hr/><p>You were wrong, oh so <em> wrong </em> . Frisk was more Determined than you thought, they <em> had </em> solved all the puzzles, they <em> had </em> defeated the guard, <em> they killed Papyrus in front of you. </em>It was not long before they met you in the Judgement Hall, Papyrus’s scarf wrapped around your neck as bright blue magical tears of frustration, grief, regret and <b>anger</b> ran down your cheek bones.</p><p> </p><p>You once again didn’t speak a word as the world went dark and you summoned your blasters and bones, the child readying the one weapon you <em> couldn’t  </em>take, <b>Chara’s Knife</b>, and the battle started.</p><p> </p><p>It took even longer for them to hit you this time, they weren’t the only one who could learn their enemies attack pattern, and you adjusted your strategies with them, a gruesome dance of <b>pain</b>, <b>grief </b> and <b>bloodlust </b>between The Demon and The Judge.</p><p> </p><p>As you walked away with your bleeding wound, not bothering to do more than glare at them this time, you noticed Flowey sitting at the entrance to the hall, right where you died last time. You walked over and leaned against the wall before sliding down, you glanced to your right at the buttercup as the kid disappeared through the next door, off to kill the king, “Well, weed... looks like you're up, you... remember the *cough* plan, right?” You shakily asked him.</p><p> </p><p>Flowey gave a nod before disappearing into the ground, '<em>time to see how that one goes…' </em> You thought as everything faded to black.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Loop</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You would say time has past, but it hasn't really, and you make a difficult choice in order to stop the loop.... Things don't go according to plan...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It has been hundreds of timelines since the first failure. Even when he absorbed the six human Souls, Flowey was still not able to defeat them. As a creature with no Soul of his own he can’t absorb human Souls properly, this meant that they were exposed on his body, and the human took advantage of that, shattering each and every one of them with their bare hands, before shredding the flower into a pulp.</p><p> </p><p>After that they kept coming back, they killed everyone, and then they RESET, again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again again again and again and again and again again again again again again again again again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again again again and again and again and again again again again again again again again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again <em>again again again again again</em> <em>again again again again again </em> <em>again again again again again</em> <em>again again again again again</em> <em>again again again again again</em> <em>again again again again again </em> <em>again again again again again</em> <em> again again again again again agAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN </em> <b> <em>AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN.</em> </b></p><p> </p><p>You hadn’t even bothered to meet them in the forest anymore, nor set up the traps. Papyrus got the guards to defend against a human like any other day, fought them in the forest, <b> <em>died</em> </b> , they would go through and kill everyone, you would fight them in the Judgement Hall, <b> <em>you would die</em> </b> , they would kill the king, Flowey would spew the same cryptic warning, ‘keep this up, see how far you get’ <b> <em>he would die</em> </b>, the timeline would RESET, rinse and repeat.</p><p> </p><p>You remember one timeline, before the human had left the Ruins and you were on your way to the forest one of your older cousins said that you seemed unusually depressed that day, ‘you were fine just yesterday, happy, smiling, you were going to practice knock knock jokes today, right? So where's that chipper attitude?’ you remembered looking her directly in the eyes with your own empty sockets before replying ‘my <em> chipper attitude </em>, died alongside my ability to love.’ She looked so shocked, like she couldn’t believe you had said something like that, and it wasn’t long before the whole town knew.</p><p> </p><p>After that you were careful to watch what you said and pretend to be ok, it was the best way to avoid confrontation, despite how unhealthy it was. <em>‘I’ll get therapy when this is over’ </em> you thought to yourself as you watched Gyftrot’s horn get ripped from his head and stabbed through his eye, he dusted shortly afterwards. Ever since you took the items and hid them out of reach the human had discovered new ways to kill in much more gruesome and creative ways.</p><p> </p><p>But! You had recently noticed that the human was becoming sloppy, they weren’t trying as hard and were taking longer to get through the underground, they were losing Determination…</p><p> </p><p>The three of you had gathered in the basement, now was the perfect time to strike! The whole reason Flowey had given up was because the idea of being permanently dead scared him into submission, you had threatened him in the basement after he found out that the LOADs and RESETs didn’t work there, meaning that if he died there he would <em> stay </em> dead.</p><p> </p><p>If the human was low on Determination and they knew it? Suddenly the threat of death was all too real, you could use that to your advantage the next time they came by.</p><p> </p><p>“So, how are we gonna do this?” Flowey (or Asriel, as he had told you one timeline, but he had said that he preferred Flowey most of the time, and you understood that) asked, as he sat in a round pot that was placed on the workbench, looking the papers over with you as Papyrus wrote down a few ideas on a white board.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m Not Sure, We Have Exhausted Most Of Our Options" A sigh "Even Though The Human Has Shown Signs Of Slowing Down, There Is No Guarantee That They Will Be Stopping Anytime Soon, We Need To Show Them That We Are Willing To Go To Drastic Measures In Order To Stop Them, That We Are Just As Determined As They Are” Papyrus stated as he began writing down different things you could do to achieve this…. It was a very small list.</p><p> </p><p>But then Flowey suddenly perked up, he had an idea, “What if we became stronger?” He asked, you and Papyrus gave him strange looks, prompting him to continue.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, you get stronger when you gain LV, right? And the only reason Frisk lasts as long as they do is because of their Determination, which is disappearing, strength and speed, which is beginning to fail them, and the extra HP gained through LV. The first two are beginning to fade on their own but if we take the last one away somehow and use it ourselves, we could scare them into RESETing one last time before they try some other tactic to get through, either that or never leave the Ruins.”</p><p> </p><p>You think you can see what he’s getting at, Papyrus too. You can see the cogs in his non-existent brain putting together the final puzzle piece, before his face lit up. He wasn’t even deciding whether or not to do it, he was comparing the pros and cons of doing it then deciding <em> how</em>, and it seems he’s figured it out.</p><p> </p><p>Flowey can see that too, the three of you have been through so much, a younger version of you would have gagged at the idea, but now you can proudly say he’s become part of the family. It was then that Papyrus turned around and started furiously writing down a plan of action, you shared a look with the plant, letting him move from his pot to cling to your arm before you made your way over to your older brother.</p><p> </p><p>The three of you spent hours going over the plan, working and re-working the details, making up a timeline of events and setting up a schedule, “So It’s Decided? Flowey Will... <em> Harvest </em>, His LV From Snowdin, As Bunny And I Have Too Many Emotional Connections And Will Be Reluctant, Even Though We Know It Will Only Be Temporary. Bunny Will Have Waterfall As Undyne Knows My Attack Patterns Too Well, And She Will Be Hesitant To Harm A Monster Child. And I Will Take Hotland, As I Have A Higher Chance Against Mettaton. We Will Leave New Home In The Dark And Use The Videos From The USB To Trick Them Into Thinking It Is A Human Doing This And Then Use Our Superior Power To Scare Them Into RESETing And Stopping The Genocides, Is There Anything I missed?”</p><p> </p><p>Both you and Flowey shook your heads, “Good, Then There Is No Time To Waste! According To The Machines Clock, The Timeline Just RESET And We Need To Hurry Along!” Papyrus exclaimed as he ushered the both of you out of the basement. He then rushed up the stairs to get his armour, shouting that you two should get going because of how close your locations are to the Ruins.</p><p> </p><p>When you left the house that morning, you walked to the centre of town and rang the meeting bell, causing everyone to begin gathering around. You then placed Flowey back on the ground as the residents of Snowdin Town began murmuring in confusion, “Sans? what’s the emergency? Who’s that? Why isn’t your brother here?” one of the dogs questioned.</p><p> </p><p>You smiled pleasantly at them, “I’m afraid Papyrus and I are a bit too busy to explain, so we’ve decided to have our dear friend Flowey here explain for us. Do not worry, everything will be fine." your smile twists ever so slightly "Now, if you will excuse me” you then turned and began making your way towards Waterfall, catching your brother on the way.</p><p> </p><p>You summoned a blaster and caved in the entrance after you had walked through in order to trap the screaming citizens in the town. Realistically the rubble could easily be removed, but it would be enough to slow the residents down long enough for Flowey to take them all out and move on to the monsters in Snowdin Forest before the human could get to them.</p><p> </p><p>You followed Papyrus all the way to the 'welcome to Hotland' sign, “You remembered the USB right? Know what to do with the footage?” He nodded with a chuckle, “I Will Be Seeing You Soon, Sister!” He called before you gave this entrance the same treatment you did the Snowdin one, you had work to do.</p><hr/><p>You were now standing on a stone platform, in front of you sat the residents of Waterfall. Every single one had been gathered in the one room for an ‘emergency meeting’. Undyne stood next to you, you had already given the same report Papyrus had for the past hundred timelines or so, if only slightly different, and now you were waiting for everyone to be accounted for, then Undyne will be able to make the announcement.</p><p> </p><p>It’s only a few minutes later when everyone arrived and the crowd quieted down enough for the captain to speak, after a few seconds she cleared her throat, “I’m sure everyone is wondering what this gathering is all about, well I’m afraid to announce that a human has fallen down”</p><p> </p><p>She paused as the crowd broke into murmurs, but they quickly quieted when she held up her hand, only waiting for a few more seconds before continuing, “according to the report, they started attacking the citizens of Snowdin and the entry had to be blocked off to slow them down, the captain of the Snowdin guard, Papyrus-” her voice cracked at his name and you looked down for dramatic effect, “has decided to stay behind to give us time to prepare. He and his sister, Sans, had formulated a plan to stop them”</p><p> </p><p>She turned to you, nodded, and took a step to the side in order for you to stand up front, “But, we will need the assistance of our citizens to put their plan into motion” She concluded as a few murmurs escaped the crowd, some of them looked quite happy to help while others seemed nervous or confused, <em> good</em>.</p><p> </p><p>You suppressed a smile as you spoke, “The captain is right, for mine and my brothers plan to work we will need your help, we cannot let this vicious human continue on their rampage, their kind have already taken so much from us… now, it is up to you to help monster kind persevere, to help us escape this prison so that we, and in turn our predecessors, may see the sun and stars. We must make our ancestors proud, we must do what we can so that the sacrifices that have been made are not in vain, I ask that you help me protect our future” you looked up to the awestruck and hopeful crowd, a slightly manic grin spreading across your face, though no one noticed, “will you do that?”</p><p> </p><p>The crowd erupted in cheers, shouts of agreement and encouragement making your smile soften to something a little more genuine. Even in the face of great strife, monsters will cling to even a sliver of hope, however small, it’s what you loved about them, <em> ‘monsters really are made of compassion, mercy and hope’ </em>but your smile slipped when they calmed and a few people asked how they could help, what they needed to do, and you were remind of what <em> you </em> needed to do <em> ‘guess I’m the unlucky outlier’ </em> you thought bitterly as your maniac smile returned.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, it’s quite simple really” You snapped your phalanges and all the exits suddenly caved in, a barrage of bone attacks having broken off pieces of cave and in the way.</p><p> </p><p>“You just need” there was a gurgling sound as you impaled the fish captain with several bones protruding from the ground, she only lasted a second before she turned to dust, the feeling of your LV and EXP raising causing you to shiver, raising your arm the crowd looked on in horror and realization as hundreds of sharpened bones and several blasters materialized above them, ready to strike.</p><p> </p><p>“to stay <em><strong>s</strong></em><b><em>till</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>They couldn’t even scream.</p><hr/><p>It was a few hours later when the three of you found yourself back in the basement. As it turned out, the gathering <em> hadn’t </em> actually included all the residents of Waterfall, so you spent the next few hours tracking them all down and killing them, it was tedious but worth it if the plan worked.</p><p> </p><p>“So, now that that’s done, I guess we should, uh, wait in the, the Judgement Hall, huh?” You stuttered. You were so anxious and fiddly, you couldn’t seem to stay still, you were also having trouble forming a proper sentence and kept glancing at the corners of your sockets, you swore there was something moving there!</p><p> </p><p>Papyrus wasn’t much better, he had bags under his sockets and kept twitching, also glancing around in paranoia, “Yes, I Suppose So” Flowey, who seemed completely unaffected, was giving you two concerned looks, but did hesitantly agree. </p><p> </p><p>Wrapping his vines around your right arm, he gently clung to you as Papyrus took your left in a too-tight grip and you shortcut to the Judgement Hall to wait. No one in New Home nor the king knew what had happened, just as you had planned.</p><p> </p><p>And so you stood there and waited, and waited.. And waited….. For three days! Without any LOADs to indicate they were on their way! By then you were a jittery mess, curled up on the floor as you rocked back and forth and Papyrus was pacing as he twitched like crazy, muttering to himself. Flowey was looking between you two with growing concern and fear, before clearing his throat, “I’ll just, uh, see what’s taking so long, maybe they decided to take a break?” he chuckled nervously before disappearing, leaving you and Papyrus alone.</p><p> </p><p>Your brother started pausing in his pacing to stare at you for a few seconds before shaking his head and going back to it, muttering angrily to himself. The look in his eye sockets when he did was unnerving, like he was seeing something that wasn’t there, like what he was seeing was horrible. <em>L</em><em>ike he liked it </em>.</p><p> </p><p>Not that you could blame him, you were giving him the same look. In fact, unlike him, you hadn't taken your eye lights off him! You knew you were both thinking the same thing, brother vs sister, a fight to the death for the power the other possessed and the thrill of the kill. The question was, who would strike first? Who would blatantly betray the other’s trust? <em> Who would win…? </em></p><p> </p><p>These questions continued to permit the air, making it tense. You weren’t sure when you had stood, nor when your brother stopped pacing to return your stare head on, the world had been blocked out as your vision tunnelled. You had only one goal now, the words of your LV drowning out the desperate cries of your Soul, <em> kill the rival, gain the power, find the rest, kill them too! kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kiLL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL </em> KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KI <b>LL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL</b></p><p>
  <b> <em>KILL HIM!</em> </b>
</p><p>With an animalistic snarl you launched yourself at the tall skeleton in front of you, the executioner's axe you didn’t know you could summon in hand as you brought it down on your opponent.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Down The Rabbit Hole!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Things go wrong.....</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Flowey had a lot on his mind as he tunnelled through the earth on the familiar path toward the Ruins. He had checked around Hotland, Waterfall, Snowdin, hell even the Core! But he didn’t find a single sign of the human anywhere, if they are still in the Ruins then this would be the longest they've spent there to date.</p><p> </p><p>But that wasn’t what was concerning him at the moment, no, what had his mind so occupied were the skeleton siblings, Sans and Papyrus. You two had been so… agitated when the three of you arrived back. He was ashamed to admit that he hadn’t taken into consideration how so much LV would affect your Souls, e didn’t have a Soul and was therefore left generally unaffected by these types of things, so it was easy to forget that others <em> were</em>.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------</p><p>
  <em> Papyrus threw you across the room and into a pillar, the impact casing a crack to form up the length of your humerus from your elbow. You didn’t react other than a grunt before jumping to your feet and calling upon your new weapon, an executioners axe, your brother doing the same with his bone saber, before you both launched at each other, your blades meeting with a metallic clang causing sparks to fly. </em>
</p><p>-----------------------------------------------</p><p>He should have thought more about the plan! You two were such good monsters, willing to give everything up for others. He was just some Soulless flower, a maniac that you had dealt with in the past, and yet you still agreed to work with him after the humans first genocide.</p><p> </p><p>Being cut down like that was the most painful thing that had ever happened to him, and he knew that they would end up doing it over and over if he didn’t try to stop them, and he was relieved to know that you and your brother would let him help you achieve just that.</p><p> </p><p>He would admit that at first he was a bit unsure, you didn’t seem to like him that much and Papyrus was so good at hiding his emotions, it seemed like the only one who could read him was you. But after a while you slowly let your guard down, and he did too, and now it feels as if he has a family again. The thought brought warmth to the empty chasm where his Soul should be.</p><p>-------------------------------------------</p><p>
  <em> You screamed in enraged pain as a femur bone was smacked across your face. When you lifted your hand up to your right eye you felt a chunk missing from the bottom of your socket, it was also difficult to see with that eye now, growling you blasted the arm that was holding the bone he used. This caused him to wail and clutch his wrist, his hand and a part of his forearm was burnt black and leaking dust, but it was still intact. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The thought of being so weak that you couldn’t even take off a single limb made you growl. Your crazed eye lights shrunk in their sockets before you summoned a barrage of bones and blasters, your opponent summoning a wave of attacks to match, before you both fired. </em>
</p><p>-------------------------------------------</p><p>Flowey had been searching through the Ruins for a few minutes now. There were the tell-tale signs of their presence, eerie atmosphere, dust piles replacing the monsters who should’ve lived here, he even found mo- Toriel, Toriel’s dust by the door, but it hadn’t been opened yet.</p><p> </p><p>This made him search through every nook and cranny of the Ruins. After a while he made it to the room where he met them in the first run, <em> ‘never again’ </em> he had told himself, he didn’t want to face them so soon in their runs after that. It wasn't like he could kill them there anyway, Toriel was always there to intercept him and rescue the <em> ‘poor innocent youth’ </em> from the <em> ‘horrible creature’ </em> he scoffed, what a joke!</p><p> </p><p>But as he sat in his little patch of grass, contemplating  the situation, he suddenly heard a voice coming from the flower bed where the children fell, an adult voice.</p><p>-------------------------------------------</p><p>
  <em> You were shaking, your bones rattling loudly. Whether it be from exhaustion, low magic, or pain, you couldn’t tell, maybe it was all three. You didn’t care, you needed to kill your enemy, to make his LV your own, to eliminate the competition, then go and kill the rest of the monsters, that way you will have ultimate power for…  whatever reason you wanted it in the first place. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> You turned his Soul Blue and began slamming him into the walls, but he would just faze through them or fight your pull with his own Blue Magic, you growled. </em>
</p><p>------------------------------------------</p><p>Flowey popped up on the other side of the corridor in front of the flower bed, and stared in confusion. There was another human there, an adult as he had thought, they had a harness attached to their hip and appeared to be putting some kind of… sling? Strap? Some kind of loop made of material around the Demon. Looking up Flowey then noticed that the straps were attached to a rope leading up the hole that was the entrance to the underground.</p><p> </p><p>The adult paused to talk into what Flowey recognized as a radio, “yup, she’s secure, reel er in” it took Flowy a split second for what he said to register, his eyes widened as he watched both the Demon and the man get hoisted off the ground and up, up, up…..</p><p> </p><p>“Shit…”</p><hr/><p>This was bad, really bad! As happy as he was that the Demon was finally gone, back with their own kind, he was also panicking, <b>they needed the human to RESET</b>. Though he had the ability again he had lost all his old SAVE files when the human had started their RESETs, he could only go back to the moment they left now! And that's nowhere near far back enough to undo what they had done!</p><p> </p><p>He tried not to panic as he made his way back to the Judgement Hall, <em> ‘how did those other humans even know to come here? The entrance is too secluded to find it while looking for a missing person! And don’t most adult humans avoid the mountain anyway?' </em>The questions ran through his head as he desperately burrowed, he needed to tell Sans and Papyrus, ASAP!</p><p> </p><p>Finally he reached his destination and popped his head up from between the tiles, “g-guys! We’ve made a HUGE mistake! When I got to the Ruins the human was with this other human, and he-they-! They left the underground! And I lost all my old SAVEs and….” Flowey trailed off as he finally registered the sight before him.</p><p> </p><p>There, sitting in the middle of the room, was a pile of dust. It was fresh, he could tell because of the magical essence that still coated it in a glitter-like affect, shining in beautiful hues of orange, yellow, and green, Bravery, Justice, and Kindness. But that wasn’t what was worst about this situation, it’s that he recognized <em> who’s </em> dust it was, even without the red scarf that was always left behind… </p><p> </p><p>“Papyrus…..?” he muttered in a trembling voice, tears he didn’t know he could shed built up in his eyes as a small speck of… <em> something </em> in his stem was suddenly filled with an emotion he thought he’d lost the ability to feel, yet was oh so familiar,  <em> grief… </em></p><p> </p><p>“What do you <b>mean</b>, the human's gone?” He snapped his head in the direction of your voice.</p><p> </p><p>You had been standing right behind him, Papyrus’s dusty scarf wrapped around your neck and your grey hood up, both obscuring the majority of your face from view. But that still did nothing to hide the giant chip that was taken out of the bottom of your right eye socket, hairline cracks ran from it in all directions, there was even a tiny piece missing from the top lid!</p><p> </p><p>Flowey shivered when he noticed your eye lights. Your left was blue with a red ring in the centre, surrounding a small black pupil, the right was a bright purple with little flecks of yellow flashing through and disappearing in a random pattern, it wasn’t as perfectly round as the other, the magic was unstable, causing the edges to writhe and little tendrils to flick out, like a fire. It was smaller than the left light, however the small black dot in the centre was the same on both sides, making the unstable ring look thin.</p><p> </p><p>Flowey gulped, “what… what happened…?” He barely got out, his voice shaking.</p><p> </p><p>You only stared at him with your unnerving eye lights, not blinking nor moving, not even breathing!</p><p> </p><p>“What did you do!?” He asked a little louder, the tears finally spilling over as rage began to replace the guilt and grief in what he now recognized to be a tiny speck of a Soul in his stem.</p><p> </p><p>He was growing a new Soul, not a proper one, more like a shadow, but it was <em> there </em>. He had no time to think much about it as you took a calm yet threatening step forward.</p><p> </p><p>You looked down at him as the pupils in your lights shrunk, if that was even possible, “Asriel, answer my question. What. Happened. To. The. <b>Human</b>?” You growled out the last part as you took another step forward, causing Flowey to shrink back in fear.</p><p> </p><p>Now that you were so close to him, Flowey could hear how your bones were softly rattling, the small purple tears gathered at the corners of your sockets were also more obvious now that he was looking.</p><p> </p><p>Oh, <em> oh </em>, he knows what happened now. Being stuck together for so long must have caused some kind of territorial LV flare up, meaning that you wouldn’t have meant to kill Papyrus, you weren’t in control, you probably only held together so long because you had been under the guise that the world would RESET and he would come back.</p><p> </p><p>But that wasn’t going to happen now, was it? Flowey took a second to really look you over. In the midst of all the RESETs it was easy to forget that you were still only a kid, fourteen, and here you were, dealing with this. Though he was younger when he had died, Flow- <em> Asriel </em> , had known what he was doing in the events leading up to his death, he had wanted to do what he did, knowing exactly what that would entail, the costs for his actions, Chara wasn’t exactly the type to sugar-coat stuff, it was his fault he fell the way he did. But you didn’t you didn’t <em> want </em> this, you didn’t <em> ask </em> for this, and thanks to his idiocy you also didn’t <em> know </em> what this plan would entail, what it would cost. It wasn’t <em> your </em> fault you fell, it was his.</p><p> </p><p>He was such an idiot, him and Papyrus both, they had dragged you into this and you went along with it because Papyrus, the one who helped raise you, brought you along for the ride while he, Flowey, was too stupid to take into consideration the kind of mental scarring this would cause. He should have <em> known </em> better, he had first hand experience, stars damn it!</p><p> </p><p><em> ‘But’ </em> a small part of his mind whispered, <em> ‘by the time I had started to care it was already too late, wasn’t it?’ </em> he sighed, before looking back up at your now visibly shivering form, you had put your hand on the scarf delicately, phalanges gently tracing the silky fabric, the two tails, one going to a dark gradient, the other light, fluttered as you suddenly curled in on yourself, rocking back and forth as you began to sob.</p><p> </p><p>“Wh-what do you mean, they’re gone? That you l-l-lost your SAVEs? That would mean… he- I” Your body wracked with a bout of sobs as you ducked your face into the red, dust covered material, “but Papyrus, he- he needs to come back! He always does! He <b>promised</b> that he would stay, that he wouldn’t disappear like mom and dad! He promised…”</p><p> </p><p>Flowey didn’t say anything to that, what <em> could </em> he say? ‘It’s gonna be ok’ was a blatant lie, ‘we’ll figure it out’ was uncertain and ‘it wasn’t your fault’ won’t make you feel better. But despite this, he could still offer silent comfort, right? He carefully lifted a vine out of the ground and slowly reached over to your still sobbing form, reaching over your head to pet your back.</p><p> </p><p>He screamed out in pain as something sharp suddenly shot out of the ground and sliced his right eye, temporarily blinding him and causing the entire right side of his face to <em> burn </em> as his HP began rapidly dropping, <b>karmic retribution</b>, his mind supplied. He probably should have known that The Judge would have that gift, no matter how young.</p><p> </p><p>“<b><em>Don’t. Touch. Me</em> </b>” your distorted and blood thirsty voice seized his newly discovered Soul in terror, causing him to freeze. Using his one good eye he looked up at you where you now stood over him.</p><p> </p><p>Your sockets were blank, but there was glowing mana leaking from them, purple mixed with yellow from the broken one, and bright blue and red leaking from the left, all mixed with dark crimson blood that leaked from your teeth and down your mandible. That combined with the discovery of your Judge ability and murderous intent radiating off of you thick enough to choke him is what caused Flowey to scream bloody murder, before diving as far deep into the earth as he could.</p><p> </p><p>As he descended he could hear you break into insanity driven laughter, the occasional sob breaking through the cackling. Once he got as deep as he could, Flowey sat there, shivering in pain and fear. <em>‘She tried to kill me, she actually did, I could feel it! I almost died I-’ </em>thoughts similar to this began running through his head as he sat there for hours until he collected himself enough to turn his attention to the wound on his face.</p><p> </p><p>Lifting one of his leaf-arms he delicately poked at it, the wound had healed over enough to stop leaking magic and dust, but it was still fresh and painful, “Guess I could risk a trip for some healing items” He mumbled as he began tunnelling upwards for just that. It wasn't the really why he was going up, but he felt as though he needed an excuse to justify the real reason.</p><hr/><p>It’s been a few hours since Flowey was able to heal himself and recover. The wound had too much intent behind it to properly heal so there was going to be a scar, and he could no longer see out of his right eye, but that was the extent of the damage.</p><p> </p><p>Now he was simply watching you. After he disappeared you had apparently decided to kill the king, old fool probably didn’t even fight back, and now you were hunting the rest of monster kind down like animals, you had already trapped everyone in New Home via cave in and took out the majority of them in a similar way you had the residents of Waterfall. Now there was only a few stragglers left, and it didn’t seem like they would last long.</p><p> </p><p>However, not all of them went down without a fight, and you had experienced the full brunt of it. Cracks and chips littered your body, you were bleeding from multiple wounds, your left humerus was almost split in two with how bad the crack there had gotten, you were even missing a rib!</p><p> </p><p>And it scared him, for a lot of reasons, he didn’t think it possible, but you had become just as Determined as the human! Although that would explain why you had red magic leaking from your skull, as far as he knew you didn’t <em> have </em> red magic, nor purple. But that wasn’t the only thing, he was also <em> worried </em> about you. You may have tried to kill him, but that wasn’t your fault, and you were still the only person who had shown him any kindness in years, even before you learnt about his true identity, the only other person being Papyrus, and well….</p><p> </p><p>The buttercup shook his head. He couldn’t think about that right now, he had to make sure he didn’t lose you! You didn’t seem to notice in your blind homicidal rage, but he had been following you to keep you safe, discreetly taking out anyone who tried to sneak attack you.</p><p> </p><p>He would do better this time, would <em> protect </em> you in Papyruses place, he would <em> care </em> for you as you mourned, he would <em> help </em> you fix this in any way he could, when you calmed down, he would <em> forgive </em> you, just as you forgave him, “I promise, little sister, I won’t let you down this time....”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just a little announcement, I will not be posting next weekend. Don't worry, nothings wrong and this story is still continuing, I just like to take breaks from technology during the holidays and I've been a little un motivated to write for this particular fic (not like it matters much as I've already finished chapter six but still) updates will return once I'm back from my little vacation, see you all soon! :)</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. the recovery...?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You calm down and heal.... Physically....</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm back! thank you everyone for being so patient, and I'm sorry this chapter is so short but it felt wrong to make it any longer, I hope the closure is enough to make up for it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill <em> kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill </em> <b> <em> kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill…</em> </b></p><p> </p><p>What…?</p><p> </p><p>Your head hurt, a lot, just like that morning you woke up as Sans. Except the pains weren’t just aches and pinches, like you had exhausted yourself, there were also sharp pains scattered over your bones. They stung and burned, one of your ribs felt like it had been broken off and your right eye socket hurt the worst! All the pain piled up until you couldn’t hold back the tears, sobs racked your body painfully as your bones rattled. This only made the pain so much worse. Your body didn’t have enough magic to form the cushioning that was usually there, so your joints ground together horribly. You gasped and curled more in on yourself, hoping to lessen the shaking, before you heard a gentle voice whispering from right beside you.</p><p> </p><p>“Shh shh, its ok, I’m right here, I’m going to move you a little, and then I need you to open your mouth for me, ok?”</p><p> </p><p>You couldn’t bring yourself to open your eyes to see who it was, and your throat felt too raw to speak, so you just gave a single small nod. Soon you felt whoever it was gently lift you into a sitting position, causing you to whimper in pain, before pushing something up to your teeth, you opened your mouth and they began feeding you some magic heavy soup.</p><p> </p><p>When you realised what it was you began to gulp the food down greedily, eliciting a chuckle from the one who was giving it to you. Once you were done and the bowl was removed you let out a sigh of relief as the magic made its way through your marrow and began flowing through your sore mana veins, giving your body the energy it needed to heal, if only slightly.</p><p> </p><p>You then slowly blinked your sockets open. It was dark but your eyes adjusted quickly and you looked around, finding that you seemed to be in some kind of hotel room, the crappy mattress underneath your body making itself known. As your eyes wandered over the white walls and ceiling you slowly, bit by bit, began remembering what had happened. The plan, the slaughter, losing control,<em> the human leaving, </em> <b> <em>killing Papyrus… permanently....</em> </b></p><p> </p><p>You curled up into a ball as you began to sob, but you couldn’t bring yourself to cry, somehow you felt as if you had run out of tears to shed, “hey hey, don’t worry, I’m right here, ok?” your skull shot up at the now familiar voice, your eye lights expanded and fuzzed around the edges when they landed on its owner.</p><p> </p><p>“Flowey…” you spoke in a croaky, wavering voice.</p><p> </p><p>He gave you a warm smile. Even though the scar that you know was your fault ran over the right corner of his mouth and distorted it slightly, it had to be one of the best smiles you had ever seen, and it made your Soul burn.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I’m here, don’t worry, I’m not gonna leave you alone, not now, not ever”</p><p> </p><p>You let out a watery laughed as you grabbed him from the side of the bed and held him to your chest, your laughs slowly delving into more tearless sobs as you began mumbling out a mantra of ‘I’m sorry’, but he just gently wrapped his vines around you and replied to your words with nothing but forgiveness.</p><p> </p><p>It was a few hours later when you had calmed down enough to eat more of the food he brought. You had burst into tears while eating the cinnamon bunnies. The flavours of your childhood filled with the happiness and laughter you would never feel again, with the people who were gone forever. It was too much for you, but you also craved it more than anything.</p><p> </p><p>After you had finished replenishing your magic and healing, you and Flowey left the hotel room and walked into the lobby of what turned out to be MTT resort. It made sense, it was the closest hotel to New Home and you don’t think you would have reacted well to being in the Snowdin Inn…</p><p> </p><p>Flowey had insisted that you walk home rather than shortcut, you had used a lot of magic up and you needed to move your body around, but he shut up about it when you commented about seeing the remains of your own carnage now that you were aware enough to properly process it.</p><p> </p><p>You didn’t bother to go back to your room when you appeared in the basement, instead you built a fort-nest-thing while Flowey went and collected blankets and pillows for you before falling asleep, curled in a ball with the buttercup who was now your only company clutched delicately in your skeletal hands. Doing your best to ignore the red scarf you could see hovering just in the corner of your vision, you eventually fell into a dark world of nightmares.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. the machine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a few years since the last RESET. After a few weeks of recovery and planning Sans and Flowey started messing with Gasters old machine, they were hoping that if they could get a hold of an old SAVE file then they could fix everything.</p><p> </p><p>Sans had lost most of her memories of being you, only a select few really important memories and stuff about the Undertale fandom survived, so after a while she stopped associating herself with you. You were now just a group of shattered, slowly fading memories gathered in the back of her twisted mind.</p><p> </p><p>In the beginning she was almost constantly plagued by the tormented spirits of her loved ones, but after a while it calmed down to only being a problem if she was left alone for too long. Papyrus never left though, but then he was never a bother to begin with.</p><p> </p><p>For a long time she was convinced that he was just a hallucination, but little bit by little bit, Flowey started seeing him too, until one day he saw Sans’s brother all the time, just like her. Of course the possibility that they were having some kind of sick shared hallucination was something they had considered, but they didn’t like thinking about their own insanity much, so they just left it up to Determination to ease their broken minds.</p><p> </p><p>At the moment, Sans was going over her fathers notes that weren’t either erased or destroyed in the explosion, searching to see if there was anything they had yet to try. So far they had figured out how to link the timeline loops to certain dates, and even managed to view happenings from those dates. However the perspective of the ‘screen’ stayed locked on the same area, they could turn to look around but that was it, it really confused the both of them for a while.</p><p> </p><p>One day, a few months later, when they had locked onto one of Flowey's SAVEs, he realized what the significance of the areas was, SAVE POINTS. They were seeing the perspective of the Determination stars. This actually made things easier for them, when they tracked down the locations of all the SAVE POINTS they marked them for future reference, then worked on finding a way to harness the peculiar magical energy and concentrate it into one of the areas. If they did that then Sans could try and search the universal code for one of the old SAVE files, and Flowey could use his Determination to do one last RESET.</p><p> </p><p>At least that was the plan, but it had been three years since they made any progress and Sans was beginning to get desperate and stressed, causing Flowey to worry and panic a little bit. He would end up staying with the young skeleton more and more, making sure that she wasn’t alone for more than a half hour at a time at most. Sometimes he would come back from a supply run only to find her missing, he would end up searching the whole underground in a blind panic until he found her.</p><p> </p><p>Sometimes she was fine, just wandering around, ‘I thought the change of scenery would help me think’ she would say, she once mentioned fresh air but the dust that now permitted the atmosphere didn’t make it very fresh anymore, if it ever was. There were other times when she left for a different, less happy, reason, though he was usually quick enough to prevent anything unpleasant, there were occasions when he was a little too late…</p><p> </p><p>But at least they were both alive! And Flowey didn’t mind anyway, as selfish as it may sound, he actually <em> liked </em> taking care of Sans. It reminded him of when he was a kid and would do the same for Chara, if a little less extreme. He had a feeling that she liked him taking care of her too, though she obviously didn’t mean to be as self destructive as she was, him being there to take care of her probably reminded her a little of Papyrus.</p><p> </p><p>Though he’s still technically there, the spectre can’t actually do much to comfort his sister when her mind went to dark places. Sans reacts to physical touch best, so in order to get her aware enough for words to have an effect he would need to physically comfort her first, something Papyrus is unable to do. However he can get Flowey to do it, and when the first few attacks hit he would teach the buttercup how to work her through the calming exercises, it really helped.</p><p> </p><p>Sans let out a tired, frustrated sigh as she collected the burnt papers and put them back in the filing cabinet, along with her own notes she had made in an attempt to fill in the blanks, before looking to the stairs leading out of the basement. She needed to leave.</p><p> </p><p>“can’t stay here, not here, no… I need, need.... What? Tools for repair? No no no, took them all… maybe-” Sans paused, when had she ended up in the forest? And how does she get back? She doesn't recognize this area…</p><p> </p><p>This happened sometimes, her state of mind fluctuated, sometimes she seemed normal, then insanely bubbly and giggly, later she would become cripplingly depressed, or, like right now, mentally blank and forgetful. When she was the last one she tended to get lost a lot, she swore that she would just take one step and, next thing she knew, she was in some random part of the underground with no idea how she got there nor how to get back. Nowadays she tended to just sit and wait for Papyrus to lead Flowey to her, he was honestly her babysitter by now.</p><p> </p><p>It upset Sans when she acted up like this, she knew it wasn’t her fault but she couldn’t help but beat herself up for being such a burden on her brothers. Papyrus had teleported away all ghost like when she found a nice stump to sit on, she may have realized what had happened, but she still wasn’t entirely there and it was very likely that she would wander again if she was still on her feet, it wouldn’t be the first time.</p><p> </p><p>After a short while Flowey popped out of the ground in front of where she sat, Papyrus floating up beside him. He gave a relieved, tired smile when he saw that she was just sitting there, uninjured and seemingly unbothered by her current situation, her mind to clouded to care.</p><p> </p><p>Flowey summoned a vine from the ground and gently started rubbing her knee, speaking when her eye lights focused on him, “Hey Sans, it’s me, Flowey, you remember me right?” She gave a slight nod as she hummed, her unblinking sockets never leaving him as she did, that kind of thing used to bother him, but he’s used to it now, “That’s great! Now, do you know where you are?” </p><p> </p><p>Sans’s bone brows creased as her eye lights darted around, before she let out a little wine and turtled into her black turtleneck sweater a little, clutching at the scarf wrapped loosely around her shoulders, “Hey, don’t worry, that’s ok! I’m here now, Papyrus is too” He gestured to the ghost as he waved and gave the skeleton a smile, “And we’re gonna take you home now, ok?”</p><p> </p><p>She nodded, her expression of muted panic and confusion going lax as Flowey pulled himself up to her shoulder with his vines, “Ok, first you need to stand up, can you do that for me?” Sans slowly stood, Flowey smiled brightly, even though she couldn’t see it.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s great! Now you see Papyrus over there? He’s going to lead you home, all you gotta do is follow him, ok?”</p><p> </p><p>And so she did just that, keeping a steady pace as Papyrus led her through the forest, Flowey occasionally reminding her to stick with him whenever she would forget what she was doing. It took about an hour, but they eventually made it back to the house, and Flowey and Papyrus could put her to sleep. Sans didn’t like waking up in her own bed anymore, she said it made her think that the world had RESET and gave her false hope to walk out and find all her friends and family back and ok, only to crush her when she realized it wasn’t so.</p><p> </p><p>After one particular incident when this happening had caused her to become a lifeless puppet for a week straight, they had just opted to board her room up, turning it into a tomb for good memories and a happy childhood. Though not before getting the old family photo, unlike everything else, that seemed to help her more than hurt her, so now she kept it in her inventory 24/7, just in case, also keeping the photo album in the basement.</p><p> </p><p>Flowey sighed in relief when Sans fell asleep as soon as she got settled, it wasn’t always that easy, if she didn’t fall asleep right away she would have a fit and they would need to tie her up straight jacket style with her bed sheets. She already beat herself up over this kind of stuff, but it would always double with a side of humiliation when she woke up and found they had to restrain her.</p><p> </p><p>“At Least She’s Not Getting Worse Anymore…” Flowey looked up to Papyrus.</p><p> </p><p>When he had come back as a spirit he hadn’t returned back to how he used to look, now he was just a head with his tattered scarf wrapped around where his neck used to be, two floating armoured gloves acting as his hands, and if you looked closely, you would see faint red rings in his small sockets.</p><p> </p><p>Papyrus sighed, “<em>yeah, but she’s not getting better either. I’m beginning to worry that the damage may carry over the RESET, that even when she gets everything back, she’ll be too broken to enjoy it…</em>” the flower wilted slightly, sadness and worry overtaking his scarred face entirely as he gazed at the small skeleton’s sleeping form, “she doesn’t deserve that, it was our fault that all this happened, not hers”</p><p> </p><p>Papyrus nodded his head solemnly as he wrung his gloved hands. He was right, Papyrus is not afraid to admit he had been a terrible older brother, dragging Sans into this mess was not what a good brother does, just because she could remember, that didn’t immediately make it her problem. In fact, if he had just left well enough alone then they wouldn’t be in this position, the human left, they could have just moved on with their lives!</p><p> </p><p>Papyrus shook his head, there was no use dwelling on their mistakes, what’s done is done. All they can do now is try to see if their father’s machine can do anything, if they can fix this, or if they will die trying.</p><hr/><p>Sans woke up the next morning to Flowey going over their notes again, grumbling in annoyance. Sans soon joined him, looking over the notes, putting out ideas and theories between the two of them, just like always.</p><p> </p><p>After a few hours of work, only pausing to get a snack, Flowey let out a long and exhausted sigh, "We're not getting anywhere like this…"</p><p> </p><p>Sans gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?" She asked, though a part of her already knew and dreaded the answer. Flowey looked up to her in fatigue, the scar marring his face and stress making him look much older than he is. Or maybe not, he was dead for many centuries afterall.</p><p> </p><p>He let out another sigh, looking back down at the papers littering the bench where his pot was perched, “I mean, we’ve been at this for <em> years</em>, five in fact! And we haven’t made any progress in three! I just…” He trailed off, a look of complete and utter hopelessness coming over his face as he visibly wilted, “I’m so tired… I just want to fix this already, to go back…”</p><p> </p><p>Flowey tilted his head up to look Sans in the sockets, her own sorrow freely shown on her face.</p><p> </p><p>She nodded, “I know Flowey, I want that too… it’s why we’re doing this in the first place, to fix it… right?” Sans gave the small flower a skeletal smile, a certain softness in her sockets as she did that warmed what was left of his SOUL.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Of Course, If I Knew One Thing About Our Father, It Was That He Messed With Things Far Beyond Even His Understanding. There Is No Doubt That The Machine Would Possess The Ability To Create An Artificial RESET If Put In The Right Conditions</em>” Papyrus commented.</p><p> </p><p>Every now and then he would disappear to “sleep”, how or why a dead person sleeps was beyond her, he had once described it as, ‘An Infinite Darkness Where Nothing Existed, Even The Things That Did’ whatever that meant. Sans supposed it was one of those things you’d have to experience to understand.</p><p> </p><p>Sans and Flowey nodded in agreement, already used to his abrupt re-appearances.</p><p> </p><p>Sans looked back at the notes and frowned, “Well, we clearly can’t get anything done today, so how about a change of scenery?” She asked before picking up Flowey and teleporting to Hotland.</p><p> </p><p>Using her shortcuts had become more risky due to her unstable magic and mental state caused by her LV, but she felt better than usual and decided that it was safe this time.</p><p> </p><p>Flowey let out an amused huff, bordering on a chuckle, when they landed. Sans gave him a confused look as Papyrus simply watched on in amusement.</p><p> </p><p>“what’s so funny?” Flowey smiled at the skeleton with a slightly raised eyebrow, “It’s nothing, it’s just, you say that all the time”</p><p> </p><p>Sans gave the flower a puzzled look before switching her gaze up to Papyrus, “do I really? Those exact words?” Papyrus gave a firm nod, “<em>Every Time</em>”</p><p> </p><p>Sans thought about it, it shouldn’t be all that weird but… why <em> did </em> she always say that? There's some tiny voice in the back of her mind telling her that it's somehow more important than just ‘clearing her head’ or ‘getting some fresh air’.</p><p> </p><p>Sans’ thoughts are interrupted by Flowey, “although, we should stop coming to Hotland so often, especially not this close to the lab, with the… y’know” Sans cringed, <em> ‘the amalgamates'</em></p><p> </p><p>They were the only ones to survive the carnage that took place five years prior. As creatures filled with Determination they were practically indestructible, they had a multitude of dangerous attacks, a byproduct of them being a combination of several monsters, they could mold their body's to fit through small spaces like air vents and pipes, and they <em> hated </em> Sans.</p><p> </p><p>All they had ever wanted was to be with their families again, but now they had no more families to go back to, and it was Sans’ fault. Although she wasn’t the only one involved, nor was she the one who came up with the idea, they didn’t know that and therefore had only her to blame.</p><p> </p><p>Why would Sans shortcut here of all places? Now that she thought about it, she never really had anywhere specific in mind when she shortcut for these ‘changes of scenery’...</p><p> </p><p>“You ok there? It’s really nothing to worry about, just a phrase and a location, that’s all” Flowey commented after a second, and just like that it clicked.</p><p> </p><p>“Not just a phrase and a location, a specific phrase and an <em> important </em> location. A phrase that suggests something moving from one place to another and a location that has been the epicenter for anything and everything pertaining to our research…”</p><p> </p><p>Flowey and Papyrus both gave Sans curious looks, silently asking her to continue, “think about it, we’ve already proven that the first accident with the machine is the reason those with enough Determination can RESET. The event ripped apart the space time continuum for fucks sakes! And we’ve found that the <em> locations </em> of specific SAVE POINTS are one of the most important factors, right?”</p><p> </p><p>A look of dawning realization came over both their faces as they got what Sans was trying to say, "So the location of the machine must be just as important too!” Sans nodded along to Flowey’s words</p><p> </p><p>“<em>So The Problem Isn’t The Mechanics Or The Programming, It’s Where We Were Using It!</em>” Papyrus concluded, he had the same expression he did when they formulated the plan so many years ago.</p><p> </p><p>After a moment, he looked into Sans’ eye sockets. They were so full of hope, he couldn’t find it in him to crush that, no matter how much he feared putting her in that kind of danger….. Again….</p><p> </p><p>With a sigh, he smiled, “<em>Alright, But We Have To Be Careful, That Means No Shortcuts! Your Magic Is Unpredictable At The Best Of Times, And We Don’t Need You Ending Up In The Middle Of The Amalgamates, Or Worse</em>” Sans nodded in agreement.</p><p> </p><p>It made sense, if they were going to be doing this they had to do it right, that means extreme caution needed to be taken.</p><p> </p><p>“What are we waiting for!? Let's get back and get to planning already!” Flowey exclaimed in excitement, Sans nodded along and started running back towards Snowdin through Waterfall.</p><p> </p><p>Papyrus laughed along to their excitement as they went, he hadn’t seen Sans this happy since before the RESETs and it really warmed his SOUL to see her genuinely smiling again.</p><p> </p><p><em> ‘ </em> <em> Perhaps, This Time, Things Will Work Out For Us, Maybe We Will Get Our Happy Ending… </em> <em> ’ </em></p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>End of arc 1</b> </em>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And that's that for arc 1 of the Undertale/Dusttale story in the Shiftverse! Thank you for reading and I hope to see you in the next arc, till then, stay tuned!</p><p>(Edit: to anyone who's re-reading this from when it was first posted, you may have noticed that I edited it a little. Nothing too big, just some re-wording and grammar, but I did change Papyruses special gift to phasing through solid objects instead of just floating or something, it just made more sense to me)</p>
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